As he promised, President Joe Biden on April 6 vetoed a congressional resolution that would have overturned his administration’s“Waters of the United States” (WOTUS) rule, saying the resolution would “negatively affect tens of millions of US households that depend on healthy wetlands and streams.”
Officially announced on Dec. 30 (GM Jan. 6, 2023) by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Army Corps of Engineers, the new WOTUS rule claimed to restore protections that were in place prior to 2015 under the Clean Water Act (CWA), but with “updates to reflect existing Supreme Court decisions, the latest science, and the agencies’ technical expertise.” The rule was published in the Federal Register on Jan. 18 and took effect on March 20.
The US House in late February, however, passed H.J. Res. 27 (GM March 3, p. 26), a resolution to overturn the Biden new WOTUS rule, calling it “flawed” and “overreaching.” The US Senate on March 29 voted 53-43 to approve a similar resolution (GM March 31, p. 1).
In his veto statement to the House, Biden defended the new rule, saying it “carefully sets the bounds for which bodies of water are protected” under the CWA.
“It provides clear rules of the road that will help advance infrastructure projects, economic investments, and agricultural activities – all while protecting water quality and public health,” Biden said in the statement.
The resolution to overturn the rule, he argued, would leave Americans without a clear definition of WOTUS and cause uncertainty that would threaten economic growth for agriculture, local economies, and downstream communities.
“Farmers would be left wondering whether artificially irrigated areas remain excluded or not. Construction crews would be left wondering whether their waterfilled gravel pits remain excluded or not,” Biden said. “Therefore, I am vetoing this resolution.”
The veto is only the second issued by Biden since his inauguration. Republican lawmakers indicated quickly that they would push to override the veto, though doing so would require an unlikely two-thirds vote in Congress.
“We’ve talked at length about the perils of WOTUS,” said Rep. Sam Graves (R- Mo.), Chair of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee that approved the resolution. “You should know them by now. President Biden’s ‘Waters of the US’ rule is going to place much of your land under the purview of the federal government under the guise of ‘clean water.’ However, this isn’t actually about clean water. Every little possible dry puddle shouldn’t be subject to the authority of the federal government. It’s bad for farmers, builders, and landowners. That’s the bottom line.”
In an April 6 statement, Graves said the next step is to override Biden’s veto. “We already had bipartisan support for the resolution,” he said. “Now, we just need more of our colleagues on the other side of the aisle to recognize the pain that these kinds of costly, overreaching policies are inflicting on Americans across the country.”
Graves said he has also signed a brief to the US Supreme Court, which is expected to issue a ruling this year in Sackett v. EPA, a pivotal WOTUS test case. “Either way, our message is clear,” Graves said. “The Biden WOTUS rule needs to go.”